TONY HICKS took a huge hack at Brown's Steven Spieth with 1:31 remaining to send him to the line. Penn's sophomore guard was frustrated, and reasonably so. The Quakers let another game get out of hand, as they fell to Brown, 76-67, at the Palestra.
Hicks did all he could possibly do to keep Penn in the game last night. He poured in 25 points on 10-for-24 shooting, and was the only Quaker who got anything going. He had 17 points on 13 shots in the first half alone.
"In the first half, he took initiative to say, 'Despite who is in front of me, I am going to get us a bucket,' " Penn coach Jerome Allen said. "I have appreciation for his thought process, and it is good to think that way. Sometimes you want him to be a little more patient. I think he will get better as he matures, as he grows. I can't fault his spirit of determination."
The little things of the game plagued Penn all night. Per normal, the Quakers could not hold on to the ball, turning it over 16 times. Brown converted those turnovers into 24 points. The Quakers also shot poorly at the free throw line, only 12-for-23, though they were shooting 70.8 percent coming in.
"When I see it happen, I can't call timeout or get a substitution fast enough," Allen said of the turnovers.
"We've been talking about the same things all year," Allen added. "Everything starts with me, it falls on me and my inability to get these guys to lock in and focus on certain details. Whether it would be valuing each possession or boxing out and not giving up offensive rebounds. Everything is on me. I've done a horrible job with that."
Spieth led the way for the Bears with 19 points. The brother of PGA Tour golfer Jordan Spieth went 6-for-12 from the floor. He also pulled down 12 rebounds, three of them coming on the offensive glass. Brown as a team grabbed 18 offensive rebounds, leading to 13 second-chance points.
Penn found itself in a similar position during the first half. The Quakers allowed Brown to get out to a fast start and dug themselves a hole that needed some effort to overcome. The Bears' lead swelled to nine in the first half before Hicks took over.
With 15:54 left in the game, a Henry Brooks jumper closed the gap to 45-43, and it seemed as though Penn had all the momentum. A combination of bad shots, missed assignments and turnovers led to a 13-2 Brown run and a cushion that aided the Bears the rest of the way.
"We missed 11 free throws, gave up 18 offensive rebounds and turned the ball over 16 times," Allen said. "Who do you think you're going to beat? I think we're all kidding ourselves."